1. Pedro Martinez is kind of having the Michael Strahan training camp. He is not absent completely like Strahan was. But Martinez certainly is going at a pace comfortable to him. He is a veteran who knows what it takes to get ready for the season and, more important, an aging player who does not want to expend too many bullets in the exhibition season. But as his precise, four shutout innings against the Tigers showed, Martinez is going at a pace that seems to be working.

2. I hate predictions. I will soon be doing some for this newspaper because it is tradition and part of the job. This will be the first, and probably not the last time, I will tell you to ignore the predictions, namely mine. And here is another reason why: A few weeks ago there was a common theory that the wild card in the AL very likely would come out of the West because the Aâs and Rangers are expected to be two of the weaker teams in the league, while the Central and East have more talent and parity. But now the Angels are going to be without their top two starters, John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar, until at least May. So already a prediction made roundly in spring can probably be scrubbed.

3. There was wonder in the offseason why the apparently pitching rich Angels would give up top shortstop Orlando Cabrera to get Jon Garland from the White Sox. And so here again we see you can never have enough pitching.